I found these two stories interesting. From Haaretz:
Left-wing Jewish group J Street attacked the Trump administration on Thursday for refusing to endorse a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In a statement sent by email, with the headline "Trump Admin becoming Obstacle to Middle East Peace," the group's president, Jeremy Ben-Ami, said that by taking up such a stance, the administration was hurting its own efforts to reach peace. Ben-Ami's statement came after a spokeswoman for the State Department, Heather Nauert, said on Wednesday that the administration is not endorsing any specific formulas for ending the conflict, because that could create "bias towards one side or the other." Nauert was responding to a question about the two-state solution during her daily press briefing. The State Department's spokeswoman "displayed dangerous ignorance about the nature of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and what it will take to end it," Ben-Ami said. He added that, "The Trump administration has spoken often of its desire to broker a comprehensive and transformative peace agreement in the Middle East. Early steps taken by the special envoy and others suggested a real interest in constructing a viable approach to achieving that objective. But there is no way to accomplish that goal without a two-state solution."
"We very much appreciate the efforts of President Trump, who announced from the beginning that he will work to reach a historic peace deal and has repeated this more than once during the meetings we held in Washington, Riyadh and Bethlehem," Abbas said before his meeting with Kushner. "I want to stress that the American delegations is working for peace and we will work with them to reach what Trump calls a peace deal. We know things are hard and complicated, but nothing is impossible if you put in an honest effort," he said.
"Pro-peace" J-Street is saying that peace is impossible with the Trump administration refusing to say the magic words "two state solution" - but Abbas says it is possible.
Obviously both parties are being driven by political considerations, not reality. J-Street looks for any opportunity to insult Trump and Abbas is not willing to publicly go against him. (In this case Abbas is like Netanyahu who received criticism for not directly condemning Charlottesville neo-Nazis; apparently Abbas is far more immune to criticism for wanting to stay in Trump's good graces than Bibi is.)
J-Street apparently wants Abbas to angrily slam the door in Kushner's face until he says the magic words. Because Jeremy Ben-Ami's hubris overrides any desire for real peace.
The more important question to J-Street is: What progress, exactly, towards peace did the Obama administration accomplish in eight years of pressuring Israel and adopting the Palestinian talking points? Ben-Ami is so sure that an American push towards a pre-defined solution is a prerequisite for peace, but how much closer was that goal in 2016 compared to 2008 with a president whom J-Street supported to the hilt?
The fact is that despite the Trump administration's many problems, it has done more for Middle East peace than Obama ever could. Obama's vision was bilateral peace with Abbas having veto power over any Israeli position; Trump is pushing for a regional solution that involves Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries in a more comprehensive solution. This makes perfect sense because Israel can help Arab states in many ways, from technology to coordinating a strategy against Iran, and Arab states host hundreds of thousands of people who have Palestinian ancestry that they refuse to give citizenship to. They must be involved. Indeed, Trump's strategy for peace is one of the smarter things we've seen out of the White House, and Arab leaders are making decisions that are good for the entire region, not just narrow Palestinian interests where Abbas can continue to just say no to everything as he has done consistently.
J-Street wants to continue to give Abbas the right to be a rejectionist, something that he did even more during the "two-state" Obama administration. That is not pro-peace - that is anti-Israel and, indeed, anti-peace.
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Kevin Barrett is one of the stable of Iran's PressTV "experts" who spout out bizarre, often antisemitic conspiracy theories while official Iranian media can claim that they are only quoting Western experts, and not directly pushing antisemitism.
His latest piece says that Donald Trump is under control of the "Deep State" - which means, at least in part, the Joooooz:
The September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks were not planned and directed from Afghanistan, as US President Donald Trump has claimed; rather, they were orchestrated by certain elements in Washington, DC and Tel Aviv, says Dr. Kevin Barrett, an American academic who has been studying the events of 9/11 since late 2003. “[The] Zionist coup d'etat of 9/11 was done by the combination of Israelis and neo-conservative Americans along with hard-line right-wingers in the American military and the intelligence establishment who pulled off this coup d'etat in America,” Dr. Barrett said. ...Now Donald Trump, who has expressed skepticism about [9/11] in the past, and who drove (Jeb) Bush out of the presidential nomination by attacking (George W.) Bush, his brother, as the likely culprit or at least someone who is responsible for 9/11—now Trump who we all hoped might be an ‘irresponsible’ truth teller, that is, someone who would tell the incredibly subversive truth about what has really happened to America since the false flag attack of September 11th—all those hopes are now dashed,” he noted. Dr. Barrett said now “Trump is clearly under the control of the elements of the Deep State that murdered three thousand Americans in an act of high treason on September 11, 2001.”
If the "Zionists" were behind 9/11 and Trump is now controlled by those same people then Jews have managed to control Donald Trump.
Which is actually pretty remarkable.
Barrett is of course correct. In fact, we control him as well. And Iran's PressTV, which can only be read over the Zionist Internet.
Yes, we control it all, but, somehow, it isn't enough.
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It is hard to feel sorry for Lebanese-Swede Amanda Hanna, who was stripped of her Miss Lebanon Emigrant 2017 title this week -- some nine days after being crowned in the annual expat beauty pageant -- when it was discovered that she had visited Israel last year as part of an academic tour.
Hanna, who expressed her gratitude on Facebook at having won the August 12 finals, was declared unfit to fill the role of best-looking Lebanese expat in a statement released by the organizers of the event, held in Dhour El Choueir. "After communicating our decision with Lebanon's minister of tourism," the communique read, "he decided that Hanna should be stripped of her title because her visit to Israel violates our country's laws."
Hanna should have known this was going to happen, and not only because Lebanon is the Jewish state's sworn enemy. Indeed, had she done her homework, she would have learned that any contact with Israelis in Lebanon is punishable by imprisonment. She also might have discovered that the movie "Wonder Woman" was banned from its theaters because it stars Israeli actress Gal Gadot. A simple Google search, too, would have revealed that Miss Lebanon Saly Greige came under heavy fire two and half years ago for appearing in a selfie with Miss Israel, Doron Matalon, during the Miss Universe pageant in Miami. After Matalon posted the photo (of herself with Miss Slovenia, Miss Japan and Greige) on Instagram, Greige was criticized widely in her country for being a traitor. To defend herself against the accusations, Greige said that she had been taking a photo with Miss Slovenia and Miss Japan, when suddenly "Miss Israel jumped in."
Soros put $26.5 million in the Climate Policy Initiative, a San Francisco-based nonprofit dedicated to achieving “low-carbon growth.”
But Soros’ other investments fly in the face of environmental advocates who insist fossil fuels are creating the problem of man-made global warming. Soros, for example, has a $4.4 million stake in Peabody Energy, the largest private sector coal company in the world, which generates 10 percent of U.S. electricity.
He also invested $5.9 million in Key Energy Services, $12.9 million in Plains GP Holdings, and $5.4 million in California Resources, all involved in oil and natural gas extraction.
There are also carbon investments Soros made with Quantum, his “family” investment firm. In 2011, the billionaire removed all outside investors from Quantum and converted it into a family company specifically to avoid reporting requirements under the Dodd-Frank Act, which was passed by the Obama administration.
Quantum invests in San Leon Energy, an oil and natural gas company with two licenses to drill for oil in the Western Sahara, a territory Morocco has occupied since Spain abandoned it as a colony in the 1970s.
A U.N. Security Council legal advisor concluded in 2002 that Morocco had no energy and mineral exploration rights in the Western Sahara and that its extractive ores should be solely “for the benefit of the peoples of those territories, on their behalf or in consultation with their representatives.”
Eugene Kontorovich, an international legal authority, concluded in a Columbia University report, “Morocco’s presence in the territory is in violation of a (1975) Security Council demand for a withdrawal.”
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Erik Hagen, a board member of the Western Sahara Resource Watch, a human rights group in the region, told TheDCNF of his meeting with Quantum executives in which he raised their investment in the Western Sahara. “I’ve been working on investor contact for 16 years, and I’ve never had a more unpleasant investor meeting than with Quantum,” he said.
These land disputes also take on religious significance, just as they do with Jerusalem – where I too have visited on pilgrimage.
Every year, thousands of Indian Sikh pilgrims arrive in Pakistan’s Lahore to participate in religious and cultural rituals marking the birth anniversary of their most important saint, Baba Guru Nanak Dev Jee who was born in what is now Pakistani Lahore.
There, an old Sikh temple still stands next to the Badshahi Mosque, two other sights that are well worth seeing.
Many Sikhs never truly overcame the loss of control over their holy sites, sparking a Khalistan independence movement, and in one case leading to the assassination of India’s Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguard.
And yet, there are no calls to boycott Pakistan by the far-left and their Islamist fellow-travellers.
No fashionable movement exists to shame musicians who choose to perform there, no blockade of speakers at universities and no protests decrying the ‘historic injustices’ of the Punjabis.
The truth is, there is absolutely nothing that can be said of Israel, that cannot be said of Pakistan.
This incessant focus by us Muslims on the state of Israel – even as jihadists burn everything around us – is the perennial ‘whatabout’ excuse used to distract us from considering self-scrutiny and introspection.
It is precisely this lack of internal criticism that is allowing Muslim-majority societies to fall apart at the seams while we insist that everyone else is worse than us.
We Muslims have become the totally self-unaware cry-bully in the school playground.
That child who everyone is scared of upsetting, but no-one really likes.
A Sudanese minister has said that he wants to see ties between Sudan and Israel.
Sudan's minister of investment inspired controversy on Sunday when he called on Khartoum to normalise relations with Israel.
Mubarak al-Fadil al-Mahdi made the comments on national television, while also accusing the Palestinian people of "selling out".
"They sold their land [to Israelis]," he said.
"One can agree with the Israelis or disagree with them, but they have a democratic regime," he added.
According to Mahdi, his words were representative of his
contemporaries in the ruling elite. The minister claimed there had been a
shift in political opinion with regards to normalising relations with
Israel since January.
"The issue was discussed during the Sudan National Dialogue
Conference," the minister said, adding that a number of ministers voted
to change foreign policy towards Israel.
The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (HAMAS) Wednesday has
expressed deep regret over statements by Sudan’s Investment Minister
Mubarak al-Fadil al-Mahdi in which he called to normalize Sudan’s
relations with Israel.
Mubarak al-Fadil (ASHRAF SHAZLY/AFP/Getty Images)
In a press release on Wednesday, Hamas expressed deep regret over
what it described as “proactive and racist remarks” by al-Mahdi, saying
his statements are “against the Palestinian people, Hamas and our
valiant resistance”.
Hamas pointed out that al-Mahdi’s statements are not in line with the
“values, principles and authenticity of the Sudanese people who love
Palestine and support the resistance”.
It called on the Sudanese government, people and political parties to
denounce these statements which contradict with Sudan’s “honourable
stances towards the Palestinian issue and the legitimate rights of our
people”.
Wanting peace is racist? Well, about as much as Hamas is a legitimate group.
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If you are an Israeli, do you feel smug that the neurotic
politics of political correctness and victimology that lately are so
prevalent
in the USA are rare in Israel? Are you pleased to think that most
Israelis are
not obsessed with race the way Americans are?
If so, you will be sorry to hear that the folks that hijacked
the Women of Wall and other internal Israeli controversies in
order to depict
Israel as undemocratic or worse have decided to bring the
socio-political pathology
of the US to our country.
The Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC), created and
primarily funded by the American Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) has
proudly
announced the establishment of a “Racism Crisis Center” in Israel.
Did you know there was a crisis of racism here? I didn’t,
and in fact it seems to me that racially-based conflict is much
lower here than
in the US and many other places.
You may be shocked by that statement. Isn’t Israel the conflict
capital of the world? Yes and no.
Yes, the Palestinian Arabs led by Hamas and Fatah want to
kill us and take our land. But this is ideologically and
religiously-based
racism on the Arab side. it’s remarkable how well Jewish Israelis
get along
with the Arabs that they come into contact with who do not
espouse this
ideology.
Of course there are exceptions. And one can say that given
the violent expressions of hatred by the Palestinian Arabs, it is
surprising
that there aren’t more. There are issues of resource allocation to
Arab municipalities,
but there are also reasons for this having to do with their own
municipal
governance. In some areas – higher education, for example – Arab
citizens arguably
get preferential treatment. And of course Muslims are not required
to do military
service (they are permitted to volunteer). How many countries in the
world can
maintain a population that is 20% Muslim without violent civil
conflict?
Probably only Israel.
And yes, it is true that the police have behaved improperly
toward Ethiopian immigrants. But unlike the persistent black
underclass in the
US, the Ethiopian Jews – who were brought to Israel to save them
from famine
and persecution rather than as slaves – have been undergoing the
usual
processes of acculturation of immigrants, and each generation is
economically
better off and has members in higher and higher status positions.
Discrimination
against them because of skin color exists to some extent, but is
getting rarer
every day. There is not and never has been anything that remotely
resembles the
discrimination against blacks in either the North or South of the
US.
Other immigrants, like Mizrachim and Russians, have had and in
some cases are still having problems integrating into the society.
But these
are normal immigrant problems which will be solved by the
passage of
time, not examples of endemic racism. These groups are
well-represented in the
Knesset and government, and more and more getting their share of the
economic
and social status pie.
Nevertheless, the director of IRAC, Anat Hoffman, thinks
there is a crisis that needs to solved – by the introduction
to Israel of
the hierarchy of victimization that has so greatly increased the
divisions in
American society. In
an email to supporters, she writes,
The Racism Crisis Center is
modeled after the Southern Poverty Law Center, based in
Montgomery, Alabama.
Like the SPLC, IRAC will use litigation to protect the rights of
minorities in
Israel by elevating the voices of victims of racism and
discrimination.
The Racism Crisis Center will
provide support in cases of discrimination, hate speech, and
hate crimes
against minority populations, and collect data on the growing
phenomenon of
racism in Israel. The center provides support to victims of all
backgrounds:
Arab, Ethiopian Jews, Russian Jews, Mizrahi Jews, asylum seekers
and migrant
workers, and provides services in Hebrew, Arabic, Russian,
Amharic and English.
Perhaps Hoffman is not aware of the criticism
that has been leveled against the SPLC for its bias – it seems
to see “hate
groups” only on the right – its inflation
of the number of “hate groups,” its use of lawsuits for
intimidation of
impecunious opponents, or for its shameless pursuit of cash. Or
perhaps she is
aware, and she sees all of these things as worth emulating.
One wonders if she will create a list of “hate groups” like
that of the SPLC, and if it will include Hamas, Fatah, the Islamic
Movement,
and similar organizations? Will it list MK Haneen Zouabi as an
extremist? Ayman
Odeh?
The website of the “crisis
center” provides an emergency hotline telephone number and an
online form
for reporting “hate crimes” and other incidents of racism. In
addition to
making it possible for someone to blacken the reputation of any
individual or
group instantaneously, it will provide a rich source for incidents
that can be
used by IRAC to impress its overseas donors, to produce
“documentation” of its
charge that Israel is being inundated by a “tide of bigotry”
(Hoffman’s phrase),
and maybe even – as
is the case with the SPLC in the US – to be used to shut down
right-wing
voices. Will the Israeli branch of PayPal close the accounts of
right-wing
groups like Im Tirtzu as happened to the Jihad Watch website in the
US?
Israel’s social problems can’t be solved by trying to fit
them into a conceptual scheme that was developed in a different
society in a
different environment with totally different problems – and which
failed
miserably there, arguably making social divisions and conflicts
worse.
Non-Americans often look at the US with wonderment, unable to
understand the
obsession with race, the accusations of racism flying in all
directions, the “litigizing”
of every imaginable dispute, “intersectionality” and the creation of
a
hierarchy of victimization, and the excesses of political
correctness. And this
is precisely what Anat Hoffman and her bosses at the URJ want to
introduce to
Israel!
The
URJ’s interests are not necessarily aligned with those of the
Jewish state.
It has consistently sided with the Left on the issue of the “peace
process,” in
spite of a total lack of understanding of the security situation
here. It is
closely associated with the Democratic Party in the US, and indeed
couldn’t
even bring itself to oppose Obama’s Iran deal. Many Reform rabbis
are members
of J Street, the phony
“pro-Israel”
organization that is supported by George Soros and even
elements associated
with Iran, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. The head of the URJ, Rabbi
Rick Jacobs, was a member of J Street’s Rabbinic Cabinet and a
board member
of the New Israel Fund before taking over the URJ. These are not the
people we need
to help save Israel from herself, either in our dealings with the
Palestinians
or our own social issues.
Despite her American education and connections, Anat Hoffman
was born in Israel and lived most of her life here, so she should
know better. But
apparently she is being paid not to.
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The payments made by the Palestinian Authority to jailed terrorists and to terrorists' families are much higher than the welfare payments it provides to Palestinians in need, a new report by the Middle East Media Research Institute revealed Wednesday. The Palestinian Authority spends millions of dollars annually on these stipends, which in 2016 amounted to 1.15 billion shekels ($319 million) -- 7% of the PA's total budget for salaries and about 20% of the foreign aid it received.
The Palestinian Authority's extensive support for prisoners and terrorists' families prompted the United States to halt the transfer of $221 million to Ramallah earlier this year. The Palestinians claimed that the so-called "martyr" payments -- monthly stipends paid to terrorists and terrorists' families -- were equal to the welfare benefits provided to needy families, arguing that in both cases, the family had lost its primary breadwinner.
But according to the MEMRI report, stipends to prisoners and terrorists' families, appearing in the PA 2017 budget book under a section titled "The Plan for Protection and Care for the Prisoners and Their Families and Support and Training for Released Prisoners," are defined as a "monthly salary" while the welfare payments are only made once every three months (quarterly). A review of the figures showed that the terrorist stipends are sometimes 20 times higher than the welfare benefits provided to needy families.
Unless the U.S. is willing to confront Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, the latest peace mission headed by presidential adviser Jared Kushner and negotiator Jason Greenblatt may well prove highly counterproductive, causing more harm than good. As he approaches the end of his reign, Abbas is determined to shape his legacy into that of an embattled "freedom fighter" whose objective was the restoration of Arab hegemony from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.
Until now, he has ignored U.S. President Donald Trump's requests and demands. Incitement reached a record high as he whipped up religious hysteria on the false assertion that Jews were desecrating Al-Aqsa mosque, triggering riots and encouraging terrorism. Meanwhile, Palestinian children are being brainwashed into regarding Jews as subhuman in propaganda replicated from Nazi sources. The PA and its leaders continue honoring mass murderers by dedicating mosques, city squares, and schools in their names.
Despite American demands, Abbas has vowed that he will never close the Palestine National Fund, which provides massive financial awards to imprisoned terrorists and to families of deceased terrorists. Incarcerated murderers receive monthly payments of 11,000 shekels (more than $3,000), with a grant of $25,000 upon release from jail. This year, the fund has distributed $345 million -- a sum equivalent to half the foreign aid received by the PA. Thus, the U.S. and Europe have indirectly been incentivizing Palestinians to murder Israelis.
FIFA moves quickly and forcefully to punish all acts of discrimination and racism throughout world football, yet it ignores Palestinian football's institutionalized discrimination, glorification of terror and terror promotion. This special report contrasts FIFA's inaction on PMW's complaint against the Palestinian Football Association's serious violations of fundamental FIFA statutes with FIFA's swift and forceful punishments, even for relatively minor violations, by other teams or their fans. Click here to read as a PDF
In April 2017, Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) submitted a complaint to both the Disciplinary Committee and the Ethics Committee of FIFA against the Palestinian Football Association (PFA) and its president Jibril Rajoub. The full complaint documents the repeated violations by the PFA and Rajoub, which include explicit encouragement of terror, glorifying terrorist murderers of civilians, sponsoring sporting events named after killers, referring to Jews as "satans" and "Zionist sons of bitches," and much more.
PMW's complaint documented that the PFA is in violation of at least Articles 3 and 4 of the FIFA Statutes and Articles 53 and 58 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code, and the potential punishments include "suspension or expulsion," and a minimum fine of 30,000 Swiss Francs. Although PMW received notification that our complaint was received and was being reviewed, and despite a number of follow-up inquiries, until today, PMW has not been invited to give testimony and no disciplinary action has been taken against the PFA or Jibril Rajoub.
My grandmother was alone in the house. Not really alone, her two small babies were there and the accountant that would be useless in a fight was there too. Her husband (first husband, not my grandfather) Haim Natanzon was away guarding the territory they had been assigned to protect. She didn’t know how far away he was. She did know that he had taken their only horse and the only gun they had.
It was before the re-establishment of the State of Israel, when the land was called Palestine. My grandmother and her husband belonged to an organization called the “Shomer”, the Watchman, founded in 1909. The organization was responsible for guarding Jewish settlements, freeing Jewish communities from dependence on foreign consulates and Arab watchmen for their security. My grandmother had been given a house to live in on a piece of land bought by the Jewish National Fund (near Netanya). Their task was to guard the land, to be present and ensure that Bedouin did not come and settle on the land intended for Jewish settlement.
That day was the test.
Alone, she saw to her horror, a Bedouin tribe, moving on to the land. What was she supposed to do?! If she hid in the house, by the time her husband came back, it would be too late. The Bedouin would claim that the land had been empty and they had the right to be there. Or they would claim that they had always been there. If she confronted them, with no weapon and two babies in the house, they could very easily kill her and take the land anyway.
Not on her watch.
She told the accountant to watch the babies, grabbed a box of matches and stormed out of the house.
They paused in shock to see a woman, alone, with fire in her eyes, fly at them. Standing in their midst, she held up the matches and announced: “This is MY land. If you don’t leave NOW, I will burn down your tents.”
Not wanting to lose all of their worldly possessions, they began folding up the encampment. Why didn’t they just kill her? They could have but they did not. They believed her. The land was not empty. It had been claimed by a Jew. It was very clear who belonged and who did not.
As a conciliatory gesture, my grandmother gave them permission to settle on the land bordering hers. Access to water was from her territory and could be done with her consent.
Since that moment they lived side by side, in peace. No violence was necessary, a steadfast Jewish presence was enough.
Today we are approaching the 70th Independence Day of the State of Israel. We have our own government, clear laws, police, military and courts of law. Israel is a high-tech superpower and, in many ways, a military superpower and yet, we are facing some of the same issues that the Jewish community faced pre-re-establishment.
The politically correct call it “agricultural crime”. Israel’s farmers, especially herders, ranchers are under attack. Marauders steal their equipment and their animals. They sometimes demand “protection money” and when it is not paid farmers find themselves beaten, livestock slaughtered, their barns and fields burned.
The police and court system are incapable or unwilling to put an end to these problems. They are unwilling to admit that these crimes are really agricultural terrorism. Often the damage goes beyond stealing for financial gain, it is to instill fear, to break the will of the farmers, to make them leave. The victims are Jews and the perpetrators Arabs, Israeli citizens - Arabs living in villages near the farmers in Israel’s north, in the south Bedouin.
When Jewish farmers abandon their land because they can no longer keep up the fight for it, the land does not remain empty. The perpetrators move in and claim the land as their own.
The goal is to remove Jews from the land.
Obviously, this is illegal but the State does not have the tools or willpower to deal with the problem.
When Haim Zilberman told his family that they were bankrupt and had to give up the family holding his son Yoel decided that he would not let this happen.
At first Yoel thought he could do it on his own. He knew that the Shomer had guarded and protected the land for the Jewish communities before the State had been re-established. It had been done before, it could be done again.
It quickly became clear that he could not do it alone – but he didn’t have to. Friends and neighbors began showing up, volunteering to help. They announced with their presence: “I am my brother’s keeper. When my brother needs me, I will be there!”
That is how the Shomer Hachadash, the New Shomer, was born.
When the government is not capable of fixing problems, the people of Israel are. This is the spirit of Israel, what founded the country and made her great. This is what Zionism looks like – individuals, banded together, to protect their brothers and sisters, to hold and defend the land that is theirs. This is a love story between a people and their land, a land and her people.
In any love story, it is necessary to be present. To live and breathe together, to touch and be one. This is true of Israel and her people as well.
The Shomer Hachadash began as a way to defend individual farmers and ranchers. It is swiftly becoming a movement for the return to our roots. Israelis feel called to volunteer to help guard farmers and ranchers. Young Israelis feel drawn to the leadership programs the New Shomer has developed.
There is something about touching the land, working the land, sweating and teaching others what they can achieve if they too remember their land, that awakens the heart of our people.
And this is just the beginning.
This is a love story, between a people and their land, between a land and her people. As long as we declare: “I am my brother’s keeper!” NOTHING has the power to rip us apart.
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Last month, President Trump praised Lebanese prime minister Saad Hariri and Lebanon as a partner in the war on terror. Improbably, he claimed that Lebanon was also fighting against Hezbollah.
Now, Hariri has made his positions clear when he was visited by Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Jaberi Ansari in Beirut.
Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri says the
Israeli regime and terrorism are the two dangers currently threatening
Lebanon and the entire Middle East.
“Two dangers, namely the Zionist regime of
Israel and terrorism, are threatening Lebanon and the region,” Hariri
said in a Tuesday meeting with Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab
and African Affairs Hossein Jaberi Ansari in Beirut.
He also conveyed his greetings to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani as
well as First Vice-President Es’haq Jahangiri and Foreign Minister
Mohammad Javad Zarif and expressed the hope that the two countries would
further boost mutual ties.
Jaberi Ansari, for his part, echoed Hariri’s remarks concerning the
two dangers (Israel and terrorism), and noted, “These two threats can
serve as common ground for promotion of Iran-Lebanon ties as well as
regional cooperation.”
Hariri's positions are identical to Iran's. There is really no substantive difference between the two countries any more - Lebanon is Western Iran, just with more of a nightlife.
It is actually surprising that with the Arab world turning its back on Qatar for its ties to Iran, we have not seen a similar action against Lebanon which has been effectively an Iranian satellite for years.
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The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) issued this statement this week:
Muslims are marking the 48th anniversary of the sad burning of the holy mosque of Al-Aqsa, the first Qibla (prayer direction) of Muslims and the third holiest site in Islam, amid mounting extremist settles’ violations and assault, condoned by the Israeli occupation forces, against the Al-Aqsa.
Muslim media is claiming, as usual, that Israeli "occupation forces" were responsible for the fire set by a deranged Christian.
The policy of judaization and ethnic cleansing practiced by the Israeli occupying power in the city of Al-Quds, against its population and sanctities, is such that it constitutes a breach of the Muslim Ummah’s indelible religious rights and heritage. More than a source of provocation to the feelings of Muslims, an offense to the freedom of worship and a desecration of the sacred places of Islam, these policies and practices are a downright affront to the international law and the relevant international legitimacy resolutions.
Isn't it cute when Muslims invoke international law to protect freedom of worship that they deny everyone else who doesn't submit as second-class citizens?
The OIC's respect for other religions is so huge that they cannot bring themselves to capitalize "judaization."
On this sad occasion, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation reaffirms the central religious and spiritual character of Al-Quds and the place of importance the holy Mosque of Al-Aqsa holds amongst the Muslim community worldwide, stressing that the integrity and sanctity of this city’s holy places can only be maintained if peace and security are established throughout the entire region.
It's equally cute when people who support terrorism against Jews and infidels talk about their vision of peace throughout the region.
The OIC holds Israel, the occupying power, fully responsible for the safety of all the holy places falling under its unjust occupation, pointing out that the international covenants and agreements, particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention, prohibit aggression by the occupying power on houses of worship and provide that free access to these places should be ensured. These international instruments also prevent the occupying power to take such measures as may alter the geographic and demographic status of historical and holy places.
The Fourth Geneva Conventions are very clear that the "occupying power" can do essentially anything necessary to ensure security. Security concerns are of paramount concern. Read them.
... The OIC also calls for a cessation of the ongoing Israeli violations and judaization plans, especially Israel’s attempts to harm the Islamic and Christian holy places in Al-Quds, on top of which is the holy Al-Aqsa Mosque.
And by "harm" they mean "allowing Jews to quietly and respectfully visit."
This statement shows how Muslims have adopted the language of human rights to urge the exact opposite. But most Western observers are too frightened to point this out since, if you accuse Muslim leaders of being anything less than liberal, they might threaten to kill you.
We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.
In the “Palestinians’” attempt to rewrite history and claim falsely that they and not the Jews are the indigenous people of the land of Israel, they have taken to claiming they have descended from the Canaanites. Since the Canaanites preceded the ancient Jews’ conquest of the land, that would make the Palestinians the rightful inheritors.
Problem with this claim is that it is utterly ridiculous from all points of view. First off, it means the Palestinians aren’t Arabs. Which they are, by their own lights. Arabs, though, came from Arabia and most certainly were not around in the Biblical land of Israel.
Second, there’s not a shred of evidence that the “Palestinians” were descended from the Canaanites. Nor is there any evidence they descended from any other unified people or tribe, for the simple reason they did not. The immediate forefathers of today’s “Palestinians” either considered themselves southern Syrians or just part of the Arab nation; many others immigrated to pre-Israel Palestine in the first half of the last century from a variety of non-Arab countries. And of course, since the invading Romans tried to erase the Jews’ claim to the land by giving Judea/Israel the meaningless name Palestina, there was never any such people as “the Palestinians”.
The whole Canaanite heritage claim is merely another lie being propagated in order to rewrite the Jews out of their own history and conceal the fact that the Jews are the ONLY people for whom the land of Israel was ever their national kingdom. As Pinchas Inbari says in his JCPA paper Who Are the Palestinians:
“When one looks into what the Palestinians say about themselves, how each family describes its lineage, there is no trace of a ‘Canaanite’ ancestry. Most of the families find their origins in Arab tribes, some of them with Kurdish or Egyptian background, and there are even – by word of mouth – widespread stories of Jewish or Samaritan ancestry. Although one might have expected some effort to adduce a Philistine ancestry, there is almost no such phenomenon.
In City on a Hilltop, Sara Yael Hirschhorn seeks to explain Israel’s settler movement, rejecting the common misconception that its members are fanatics uniformly motivated by religious zeal and ferocious nationalism. Nonetheless, writes Evelyn Gordon, Hirschhorn fails to look past her own political assumptions: [R]eaders emerge from [the book] with no clear understanding of what drives the settlement movement. This isn’t surprising, since Hirschhorn admits in her conclusion that she herself has no such understanding: “After discussions with dozens of Jewish-American immigrants in the occupied territories, I still struggled to understand how they saw themselves and their role within the Israeli settlement enterprise.”
Consequently, she’s produced an entire book about settlers that virtually ignores the twin beliefs at the heart of their enterprise: Israel has a right to be in the territories, whether based on religious and historical ties, international law, or both, and Israel has a need to be there, whether for religious and historical reasons, security ones, or both.
This glaring omission seems to stem largely from her inability to take such beliefs seriously. In one noteworthy example, she writes, “While their religio-historical claims to the Gush Etzion area are highly contentious, many settler activists over the past 50 years have asserted Biblical ties to the region.” But what exactly is contentious about that assertion? No serious person would deny that many significant events in the Bible took place in what is now called the West Bank. . . . One could argue that this doesn’t justify Jews living there today, but if you can’t acknowledge that this area is Judaism’s religious and historical heartland, and that many Jews consequently believe that giving it up would tear the heart out of the Jewish state, you can’t understand a major driver of the settlement movement.
Chicago has long been home to one of America’s largest and most thriving Jewish communities, a vibrant and nurturing setting that gave the nation everyone from Saul Bellow to Julius Rosenwald, the founder of Sears.
For the city’s thriving progressive and LGBT Jewish community, Chicago has as much been that cherished home as it has a sheltered harbor offering the freedom to proudly express spirituality right alongside an individual’s political, sexual, or gender identity. Reform synagogues have seen a continual membership growth, which even includes a migration of Conservative Jews.
Yet, over the past 18 months, the city has made headlines for a series of ugly snubs targeting Jewish organizations and individuals, leading many—the city’s Jews first and foremost—to wonder just what’s going on.
The first sign of trouble came on January 22, 2016, at the National LGBTQ Taskforce’s Creating Change Conference. Held at the downtown Chicago Hilton, the event, bringing together gay rights activists of all stripes, included a Shabbat service and reception, held by the Jewish LGBT advocacy organization A Wider Bridge (AWB). To its participants’ shock, the quiet reception turned into a riot both in the corridor outside and in the meeting room when two anti-Zionist activists stormed the stage and chanted slogans like “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” denying Israel’s right to exist.
If you were a parent contemplating where to send your child
in Israel after high school for a solid Jewish experience, would you send your
child to Achvat Amim? The
name sounds good, from the little Hebrew you might remember—sounds like the
name of a Jewish congregation, a temple. But even if you can’t quite remember
what the words mean, the website tells
you: Solidarity of the Nations.
Intrigued, you look around the Achvat Amim website and see
that one of Achvat Amim’s partners is Masa. Now that’s a name you’ve heard. You
go to Google and you find Masa’s about page
which states:
“Masa Israel, a public-service organization founded by the
Prime Minister’s Office of the Government of Israel, together with The Jewish
Agency for Israel, is the leading organization in the long term Israel
experience space, and it sets the industry standard.”
Well, you think to yourself, if the Israeli government co-founded Achvat Amim, it must be a good, hearty, Zionist program. You’re pretty
much sold, just right on the basis of that. Because you know that everything
comes down to money, and you’re pretty sure this means Achvat Amim is receiving
funds from the Israeli government. What better endorsement could there be,
right?
Hashomer Hatzair
You might not even bother to look into the other Achvat Amim
partners, whose names you’ve never heard of. Because once you see it’s got
Israeli funding, you’re just not worried enough to dig further. That means you
wouldn’t find out, for instance, that the group receives funding from the
Marxist socialist Hashomer Hatzair movement with which Achvat Amim founder,
Daniel Roth, is associated. Hashomer Hatzair receives funding from, for
instance, the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, affiliated with the Social DemocraticParty (Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands - SPD). This foundation,
according to a report by NGO
Monitor, “cooperates closely with local partner organizations to jointly develop
projects in the spirit of democracy, gender equality and peaceful
co-existence.”
Which is why in
December 2011, the director of FES’ Jerusalem office, Michael Broning, co-wrote
an article with Ghassan Khatib, director of the Ramallah-based Palestinian
Government Media Center, entitled, “What about Israeli Rejection,” a rebuttal
to an op-ed by two Israeli government oficials: “The Problem is Palestinian
Rejectionism.” The rebuttal argued there is no Arab rejection of peace and that
Israel is the intransigent party standing in the way of peace. Certainly a
problematic position for a foundation funded by the German government, if you
see what I mean.
Rabbis for Human Rights
And since you’re not looking further into Achvat Amim’s
credentials, you also wouldn’t bother looking into Rabbis for Human Rights,
which receives oodles of funding from all the wrong places, including the George
Soros-funded New Israel Fund. RHR, while some of us are fighting for Jewish
rights in Israel, fights for Arab rights, always at the expense of Jewish
rights, and sees the Arabs as supreme. While numerous examples of this ethos
exist, here’s one that is particularly vile, culled from an NGO Monitor
report:
“Following the March 2011 Itamar
massacre, RHR condemned the murders saying, ‘They were of course a
violation of the most basic human right, the right to life,’ but quickly went
on to demand that the defense office fulfill its ‘obligation to protect
Palestinians.’ The Hebrew website contained a one-sentence condemnation
followed by four paragraphs detailing the need to defend Palestinians from ‘settler
attacks.’”
Hand in Hand: Center for Jewish Arab Education
Another one of Achvat Amim’s partners is Hand in Hand. NGO
Monitor mentions this organization in regard to a past lack of transparency
over US funding for Israeli and Arab NGO’s. Hand in Hand schools, attended by
Jewish and Arab children, received $1.08m from the US government for the 2012-2015
period, using the money to hold such annual events as “Nakba Day” which
translates to “Disaster Day” and is celebrated by Arabs the day after Israel's Independence Day (which means they're mourning Israel's independence/existence/that we whupped their butts). NGO Monitor’s report
states that “a flyer for a May 14, 2014 event at the Hand in Hand school in
Jerusalem, ‘Families Talk about the Nakba,’ features the USAID logo.”
Now imagine little Israeli children being indoctrinated with
this sort of false and ugly narrative about their own people. This is an
organization partnering with Achvat Amim. Are your older children contemplating
this five-month program more or less susceptible to this smear on their own
kind, their own nation?
Givat Haviva
Givat Haviva is another partner of Achvat Amim that received
hefty US government funding for a two-year joint project Keshev called “Communicating
Peace.” NGO
Monitor speaks of a USAID-funded Keshev report accusing the Israeli media
of, “ignoring the wider context of the story and Israel’s responsibility for
the continuation of the conflict.” In a different USAID-sponsored report on the
“Free Gaza Flotilla’s” confrontation with the Israeli Navy, Keshev alleged that
“the message that the activists tried to present against the policy of blockade
[of Gaza]…remained outside the public discourse in Israel.”
Before we delve further into Achvat Amim, it should be noted
that Masa has withdrawn
funding from Achvat Amim. Of course, you’d never know this from looking at
the Achvat Amim website.
If you were a parent wanting to send your child on a
trip to Israel, you might still think it a perfectly viable option, based on what
appears to be Masa’s imprimatur.
Why did the Jewish Agency/Masa/the Israeli government decide
to withdraw funding from Achvat Amim? Because Israel’s Channel 2 did a huge exposé
of the program’s illegal activities, which include, oh, entering a closed
Israeli military zone and clashing with IDF soldiers. The closed military zone
was the site of an illegal Arab outpost that left-wing orgs keep helping the
Arabs rebuild and which the IDF keeps dismantling. Like four times. It’s called
Sumud.
You can see the whole story of Achvat Amim and the kids fighting with Israeli soldiers here:
Channel 2’s source for the story was Ad Kan, an
organization working hard to spread the truth about Israel.
Now losing Masa funding would have to be a big blow to
Achvat Amim, since this lost revenue represents $3000 per participant. I wrote
to Daniel Roth, director of Achvat Amim to ask him how the withdrawal of
funding will affect his program:
Hi Daniel,
I'm writing a piece about Achvat Amim. Can you explain the reason the Israeli government withdrew its funding from your program? How will this affect your program going forward?
What is the cost per participant? Why should a parent send his/her child to your program over others?
I see on your Facebook page a mission statement: Solidarity of Nations - Achvat Amim is a 5 month volunteer experience in Jerusalem that directly engages with the reality of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, based on the core value of self-determination for all peoples.
Question: where, in the opinion of Achvat Amim, are Jews within their rights to have self-determination, meaning in which territory?
Best,
Varda Epstein
In response, I received an out of office email
telling me he’d be in on Monday (Nov 21st). Google told me that Nov
21st was a Monday in 2016.
I sent a private message to the Facebook page and was told
that Daniel would respond to me by email. Which he did, with the text of the lie-filled
statement put out by Hashomer Hatzair which I had already seen:
Statement from Hashomer Hatzair on the Solidarity of
Nations - Achvat Amim programParticipants
of the Solidarity of Nations - Achvat Amim program who took part in activities
which have been portrayed in a misleading manner, did so independently, during
time which was not part of the organized program. It
is important to emphasize that none of them took part in any illegal activity,
or any instance of civil disobedience or non-compliance with authorities. Any
attempt to assert otherwise is simply incorrect and defamatory. The
safety and security of our participants is our top priority and we take that
very seriously. In
light of this situation, we are in active conversation and full cooperation
with all of the relevant bodies. The
Achvat Amim program makes a large contribution to Israeli society – the program
includes five months of meaningful volunteer work and successfully connects
diaspora Jews to Israel.
Why is this statement a lie? Because the Achvat Amim kids
entered a closed military zone, which is definitely illegal, and impeded the
ability of Israeli soldiers to perform their duties, also illegal. There's
footage, documentation, so the statement is silly. Furthermore, the statement
didn’t really answer my questions, for instance, how the loss of Masa funding will
impact Achvat Amim. Which is what I told him. He wrote:
Hi Varda,
At this time that statement is all we are putting out.
Thanks sincerely,
Daniel
Meantime, there was
something nagging at me, something awfully familiar about the Achvat Amim clash
with IDF soldiers in the South Hebron Hills. A quick search confirmed
suspicions that the site of the clash was the same as the site of Rabbi David Basior’s confrontation
with the IDF, an event my friend Mike Behar had written up HERE.
Michael had been incensed that a man serving as the rabbi of the Kadima
Reconstructionist Community in Seattle had attacked Israeli soldiers. What
kind of rabbi is that? What kind of Jew??
I thought I spotted Basior wearing a white watch cap at
around 2:05 in the Channel 2 footage of the clash in Sumud with IDF soldiers.
It didn’t surprise me that he might be involved with Achvat Amim. I sent him a
private message to confirm, but I already know him: if he doesn’t like a question, he won’t
answer it. I know because I initiated a discussion with him after reading Mike’s
piece about him.
Basior had come to Israel not only to beat up on Jewish
soldiers, but also to protest the treatment of Arabs who were striking for
better jail conditions. It’s difficult to wrap one’s mind about a rabbi making
all that effort to defend the jail conditions of Arab terrorists. These are men
who murdered innocent Jews in the most callous ways possible. How could he want
to help them?
What’s WRONG with him?
So I thought I’d see what would happen if I wrote him something
sensible that included actual facts about the treatment of these prisoners and
what kind of people they are. I wrote:
“Hi Varda. I have different information than you and do
believe that prisoners demanding humane treatment while in prison is a
reasonable request no matter their crimes. And, I do not argue that they are
innocent nor should be released. I have not read a list...I am simply
commenting, especially while I happened to be in the West Bank at this very
moment, how powerful and important the prisoner strike is to millions of
Palestinian people who resist everyday occupation. I am glad I have a
reputation of being reasonable. Like every Jew, I deplore violence, think it is
sometimes called for, and wish for the safety and peacefulness of my people and
all those living among us. I do believe ending the occupation is key toward
that goal. Happy to talk more and wish you a great day.”
I thought, “Great! I’m going to draw him out and reason with him. Show him the
facts.”
I wrote:
“It would be a reasonable request if their conditions were
unreasonable. But their conditions are good.
“Certainly better than in any Arab country.
“Did you go to the link I supplied above?
“After we address the prison conditions, I would like to
address the issue of occupation with you.”
But he never responded. Did he watch the clip at the link I sent him, showing
the glam conditions of Arabs in Israeli prisons? I will never know, I suppose.
If he did, what could he have said to that? “I was wrong—I repent”?
Trick photography??? (Those sneaky Israelis, doctoring Arab
media.)
And anyway: how can a rabbi see his own people as “occupying”
Israel?? Has he not read the bible? How did he manage to receive ordination??
But I digress. I’m supposed to be writing about Achvat Amim.
But somehow, if you write about one of these vile organizations that are attempting to
wipe out the State of Israel through Jew-washed antisemitism, you end up
finding the tentacles of all of the others crawling all over it.
So gross.
Here’s the thing: there’s a reason I wrote this piece. I
didn’t come to it on my own. I wrote it because people kept asking me to do so.
People like Forest
Rain, who has a wonderful column at Elder of Ziyon but doesn’t do this sort
of writing. She was appalled that parents might send their kids to Achvat Amim
thinking it harmless Jewish fun with a soupçon of social justice thrown in for
good measure. She wanted me to get the message out, in English, to American
parents who might open their wallets to send young Britney or Ben to Israel,
not having a clue that Achvat Amim is a subversive organization that eats its
own.
So, if you know any Jewish parents out there with kids of a
certain age, please send this along to them. Better yet, tweet and share it on
Facebook. We need to get the word out. For the sake of our children.
And the sake of our people.
We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.
This blog may be a labor of love for me, but it takes a lot of effort, time and money. For over 19 years and 40,000 articles I have been providing accurate, original news that would have remained unnoticed. I've written hundreds of scoops and sometimes my reporting ends up making a real difference. I appreciate any donations you can give to keep this blog going.
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